FELLOW-CITIZENS,--I thank you for the honor you have done me in inviting
me to preside on this auspicious occasion. You have come together
to-night, not to quarrel with one another's politics, not to abuse one
another's rival candidates, but to hold a friendly consultation upon one
of the most important and interesting and agreeable subjects which can
engage your attention,--the subject of public parks for the city of
Boston. [Applause.]
Gentlemen, I was born in Boston; and I well remember the time when our
cows were pastured on Boston Common, when the Back Bay was not a myth,
but a reality, and when at least a portion of the summit of Beacon Hill
was covered with green fields, on which were seen sometimes "raree
shows" and travelling menageries. Since that time, our city has grown
and swelled, and stretched itself north and south, and east and west,
striding over one arm of the sea, filling up another, swallowing the
neighboring towns one by one, taking two mouthfuls for Roxbury, and one
for Dorchester, and one for Charlestown and Brighton together, until it
has expanded its population sevenfold, and its area almost seventy times
seven, within fifty years. Yet there stands Boston Common just where and
just what it was--no larger, and thank heaven! as yet no smaller [loud
applause]--than it was fifty years ago.
Where are the breathing-places for this enlarged metropolis? Where are
the places of common resort for quiet and healthful enjoyment and
peaceful recreation for this expanded population? Where are the noble
parks and the wide-spreading groves? Where are the places fit for public
entertainment, which we find in every other large city in the civilized
world?--such as we see in London and Paris and Berlin and Vienna and
Florence and Rome and Naples--yes, even for the few brief months of
summer, in the northern capitals of Stockholm and St. Petersburg? And
echo answers, "Where?" [Laughter and applause.]
"Gone like a vision!"
My friends, I need not tell you that this matter has excited the
interest of our philanthropic and public-spirited citizens, and
especially of the medical faculty, to whom it is, in its sanitary
aspect, a matter of most important practical interest. And, through
their representations to the city government and to the state
legislature, a bill was brought before the legislature, which I had the
honor myself to report in the House of Representatives a little more
than a year ago, and which was passed by large majorities in both
houses, authorizing the city of Boston to purchase and to take lands
within its own limits for laying out public parks, and to co-operate
with adjacent towns in laying out conterminous parks for the common
benefit and advantage of citizens on both sides of the line.
This measure was opposed (as all such measures are opposed) on the
ground that "it would lead to jobbery and extravagance." And the answer
was ready at hand, that all public enterprises are liable "to lead to
jobbery and extravagance," but that the abuse of a good thing is no
argument against its valid use [applause]; that it is for the citizens
themselves, and for the government of the city of Boston, to see that
their trust is rightly and honestly carried out.
Again: it was argued that the people of Boston possess already, in their
beautiful suburbs, all that is required in pure air and beautiful
scenery. And this, again, is most true as regards those who live in
those suburbs, and those whose wealth enables them to pass to and fro in
their carriages, and regale their senses with the luxury of what they
there find. But what application has this, my friends, to the
working-man, to the masses of our population, whose sole idea of the
suburbs consists of an hour's rattling drive in a crowded street-car,
and an hour's seat by the side of a dusty thoroughfare?
Again: it was argued that the city of Boston could not afford this
expensive luxury of parks. And to this again it was easy to reply, that
so long as the city of Boston could afford prisons and jails, and any
number of millions spent for liquor and for hurtful indulgences, and for
the repression of vice and crime, it could afford to spend money for
this peaceful and healthful and elevating enjoyment for the people.
In a word, gentlemen, this bill became a law; and, in pursuance of that
law, a Commission was appointed by the city of Boston, the names of the
gentlemen composing which Commission I need not repeat to you; for they
are in all your hearts, as well as on all your lips. The Report of that
Commission is now, and has been for weeks, in your hands; and it is the
object of this meeting to indorse that Report, and to stimulate and
incite the government of the city of Boston to act in accordance with
its suggestions. We cannot expect that all its details will be approved
by every one; nor are we to suppose that all its details will be carried
out in action by the government. But it is not too much to say that it
is so well digested, so full and complete, and in every way so
satisfactory to the city and the citizens, that we cannot do better than
recommend it as a whole to the municipal authorities. [Applause.]
Now, my friends, it is not for me to do what will be so much better done
by those who succeed me on this platform,--to give you the reasons, and
enforce the arguments, for your action at this time. But as a
representative of the city of Boston, as an almost constant resident
within it for nearly thirty years past, as in my humble sphere a
representative of the merchants of Boston, as a taxpayer of Boston, and
in every way identified with the best interests and all the highest and
best aims of our city, I call upon you to-night to adopt and to indorse
and to commend this admirable system to our city government. [Applause.]
I have now the pleasure of introducing Mr. GEORGE B. CHASE, who will
present the resolutions.